A Lot Like Christmas
by Hellion728
Summary: Kurt is out shopping on Christmas eve, feeling down and a little bitter. That is, until he runs into Blaine, who makes him rethink his anti-holiday mentality. Set in season two, but Kurt didn't transfer to Dalton. Warnings: Male-on-Male kissing


**Author's Note:** This takes place during season two, around Christmas (obviously). In this, however, Kurt did not transfer to Dalton. He refused his father and Carole's offer to spend their honeymoon money on the tuition. It is Christmas Eve and Kurt is a little bitter that he is again alone, but hopefully someone can help him change that.

Lights decorated the streets of downtown Lima, accompanying the wreaths and holly that hung from the light posts. More wreaths hung on business doors accompanying lights in display windows, some the traditional white, others multi-coloured in reds, blues, and greens.

Snow fell from the sky, gently covering the sidewalks and being almost immediately melted on the roads from cars running over it. People walked around, entering shops with gift ideas bouncing around in their heads, others exiting the shops, arms loaded with presents for their friends and families. Lovers walked hand-in-hand, enjoying the romantic scene they were a part of, discussing how to spend the night—Christmas Eve.

Kurt Hummel huffed a little as he watched men and women hand in hand, walking down the street with smiles plastered across their faces. He glared at them jealously, the familiar feeling of being unloved and unwanted filling his chest, just as it always did this time of the year.

Okay, Kurt wasn't unloved or unwanted. He was very loved by his friends in New Directions, by his father, and yes, even Carol. And he knew that they all wanted him around—they cared about him so much sometimes it was annoying. But this time of year, almost always described as the most romantic time, having to watch couples happily walking around shopping for last-minute items made his chest feel like it was in a vacuum, an unending pressure that he knew wouldn't be gone until the season was over. _'Merry Christmas,'_ Kurt thought to himself bitterly.

"Are you okay?"

Kurt turned around and met the gazes of Tina, Rachel, and Mercedes, who had followed him out of the small store they had just been in. It was Mercedes whom had spoken, and Kurt plastered a fake smile on his face. He knew he could tell them what was wrong, but he didn't want their sympathetic looks and them telling him that it was okay, that he would find someone. He'd heard it loads of time before, and once he even believed it—but as time went on Kurt found it more difficult.

"Yeah," Kurt smiled at them, using his long-practiced and all but perfected "I'm fine" smile. "It's just been a long day. I think I'm going to go home and get some sleep."

Tina's frown creased her eyebrows. "But we still have to go to Catherines," she said, confused. "And then we're supposed to meet everyone at Breadstix later."

Kurt nodded. He knew all too well. The thought of having to sit in a booth and watch the Glee couples cuddle up and share in a part of the Christmas romance made his stomach roll. He was happy that his friends had someone, he really was. But just because he was happy for them didn't mean that he had to sit there and stomach it. "I know," he said at last, and something in his voice must have betrayed a part of his real feelings on the subject. "I just don't really feel up to it this year." He started to back away, more than ready to flee the winter wonderland swirling in the air. "I'll see you guys later."

They all frowned at him, obviously put out by his not-so-cheery holiday mood. He felt guilty for putting a damper on their night out, but if he didn't escape now he would drown in his own dismal thoughts. "Merry Christmas," the three of them called after him and Kurt turned briefly to echo the pleasantry. He could feel their confused eyes on him as he walked down the sidewalk, his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets.

Finally, he turned the corner and felt his shoulders relax a bit as soon as he was out of the girls' sight. This street wasn't as crowded as the last one, and Kurt found himself grateful. While there were still couples being affectionate, there were few enough people that Kurt didn't have to have them right in front of his face. He kept walking, passing the little shops lining the street without even bothering to glance inside the windows. All he wanted to do right now was to get to his car, turn on the heat, and drive home with his iPod as high as it could go without him risking ruining the speakers or his hearing. But hell; he was in a worse mood than usual. Maybe he would just crank it up to the point where he couldn't even hear himself think.

He thought that he heard his name being called from across the street, but he didn't look up. He probably heard wrong, but even if it was someone he knew he didn't want to deal with them right now. He kept walking, determined to get to his car and out of the cold as soon as he could.

"Kurt!"

A hand suddenly grabbing his arm made Kurt jump, a hundred memories rushing into his head at once, all of them unpleasant. The football team grabbing him and shoving him into the middle of their make-shift human corral, dumping slushies over his head and throwing them in his face. Being grabbed by the jacket only to be pushed hard into the cold metal lockers, so many that he couldn't even begin to count them, the contact of his body making the steel ring out and echo through the halls as everyone around just laughed at or ignored him falling to the ground. The feel of hands lifting him up only to throw him into the dumpsters filled with the previous days' garbage and who know what else. Karofsky's hands large and sweaty, grabbing his face and—

Kurt twisted around fast, pulling his arm free of the other person's grasp. He backed away a few steps, getting ready to flee when he caught sight of curly brown hair and kind hazel eyes, which suddenly were filled with guilt and apologies. Blaine raised both his hands in a surrender-like fashion.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said, backing up a bit as well. "I-I didn't mean to scare you. I just—I saw you across the street and I was just trying to get your attention. I didn't mean to scare you or upset you or anything. I'm sorry."

Kurt took a breath, his heart still hammering in his chest and tried to force himself to relax. The look in Blaine's eyes made Kurt feel horrible for reacting in such a way, but he couldn't help it. He was jumpier than ever and usually the only time he had physical contact with someone was if that person was prepared to hurt him. It was hard to remember that sometimes people didn't have aggressive intentions towards him.

"No, it's…. It's okay." Kurt took another deep breath, his heart finally slowing, but not back to normal, no, never back to normal around Blaine. Whenever he was around, Kurt's blood rushed through his body and he could hear his heart beating stronger in his ears. "I'm just a more on edge these days, I guess."

Kurt's attempt to be light-hearted backfired and a frown creased Blaine's features. "Why? It's not Kar—" The look on Kurt's face told Blaine that Kurt wasn't ready to bring that particular person into the conversation. "The bullying hasn't gotten worse, has it?"

Kurt never opened up to anyone about it. Yeah, after Karofsky's threat to end his life people had been asking him and he hadn't blown them off, but he never _really_ talked about it. But there was just something about Blaine that made Kurt want to open his heart and let everything fall out.

"In some ways," Kurt admitted.

Blaine looked at the ground for a second before meeting Kurt's gaze. "I don't know if you have somewhere to be or if you're busy or something…. But we haven't really talked in a while. Do you wanna go get some coffee or something? We could talk about it. Or not. We can just talk—about anything."

Blaine looked at Kurt with a hopeful—hopeful? Maybe. Kurt doubted it—expression and Kurt swallowed nervously. "S-sure," he stuttered out before he could work himself up about it.

A soft smile formed on Blaine's lips and he nodded. "Yeah. Okay." If Kurt dared to think different, he'd say that Blaine was….nervous? Why would Blaine be the one who is nervous? "Well, um," Blaine looked around before looking back to Kurt. "There's a little coffee shop just a few blocks over, if you want to go there. Unless you know somewhere else you'd rather go."

Kurt smiled, shaking his head. "No, I'm sure wherever you choose will be fine." Kurt was just realizing how stupid and slightly cheesy that sounded and was about to apologize when Blaine smiled at him.

The two set off, heading in the opposite direction Kurt was going previously and turned away from where he had just been with the girls. It was only know that Kurt registered that he could run into them and they would probably rip him a new one to find him with some guy and assuming that he ditched them for him. He had, in a way, Kurt reminded himself. Maybe not to go and have coffee with Blaine, but because he couldn't stop the feeling of heartache he had because of him. '_Screw it,_' Kurt thought to himself. He was pretty sure that being able to talk with Blaine for a little was worth anything that the girls could chew him out for.

They walked half of the block before Blaine stopped at a small bistro-like building. Kurt glanced up at the name: _The Lima Bean_. Kurt had only been there a couple times on the occasional movie night with the girls. Usually they ate at Breadstix but sometimes they came here if they weren't that hungry.

Kurt glanced back at Blaine who had the door help open for him. Kurt felt himself blush at the small gesture and hurried inside, Blaine following close behind him. Kurt looked around and saw that not many people were here; just a few loners reading the paper and an old couple sipping coffee, content enough with only the other's presence.

"What do you want?" Blaine asked, coming to stand next to Kurt. He was smiling at him, a spark in his eyes that seemed to be ever-present.

"I'm not sure," Kurt replied honestly. "I've only ever been in here a couple times before."

Blaine nodded. "Take your time," he reassured.

Kurt looked up at the menu, scanning over all of the choices of different coffees, toppings, and flavours. He wasn't much of a coffee fanatic at all. He only seldom had a cup some morning before school (black—he never had time to figure out exactly how much sugar and milk to add to it) and rarely on a night out. He had really no idea exactly what any of the listed menu items were.

"Alright," Kurt said. "Got it." Even though he really didn't.

Blaine's smile got a little bigger as they walked up to the counter. The barista greeted them and asked for their order. Blaine gestured for Kurt to go first and Kurt replied with "A grande nonfat mocha, please."

"And a medium drip," Blaine added.

Kurt went to pull out his wallet as the barista rung up the order and told them the total, but Blaine stopped him.

"I invited you," he explained, handing a few dollar bills to the barista and looking over at Kurt. "It's on me."

Kurt tried to not over think it too much as he and Blaine waited for their order to be ready, a comfortable silence between them. Kurt repeated over and over in his head that Blaine was just being nice to him and being friendly. Nothing more.

The barista called their order number and the two of them collected their drinks and went to find a table furthest away from anyone else. They sat and sipped their coffees for a while, neither of them speaking, lost in their own thoughts. Blaine eventually cleared his throat and Kurt looked up at him from where his eyes had become fixed on the design on the side of his cup.

The look on Blaine's face was serious; a complete 180 from what it had been when they were standing in line only a few minutes ago. Something about the intense way Blaine was looking at him made Kurt shudder, not at all in an unpleasant way.

"So, I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but about the bullying…." Blaine's eyes didn't leave Kurt's for a second, leaving the question hanging in the air, waiting for Kurt to further the conversation. But Kurt wasn't exactly sure how to do that, even though he wanted to tell Blaine everything.

Kurt finally had to glance away, Blaine's eyes becoming too much to handle while trying to come up with a reply. "Um, well, it hasn't gotten worse necessarily, but…."

"But it's still happening," Blaine finished for him.

Kurt nodded.

Nothing but silence passed between them for a minute until Blaine spoke again.

"Is it the same stuff—verbal, emotional? Or has it gotten more physical? The same people doing it?"

Kurt glanced up and saw that Blaine, as always, was completely focused on him. Nothing else mattered to him at the moment, just what Kurt had to say. And maybe that was what made Kurt feel like he could spill everything to this almost stranger.

Kurt told Blaine about how when there wasn't enough evidence of the threat on his life Karofsky had been allowed to come back to McKinley, with nothing more than a warning and suspension from two football games. About how the football team now hated Kurt even more, especially Azimio for "lying" about his friend. He told about the way the Glee guys now walked with him to everywhere they could, but sometimes it just wasn't possible for him to have a bodyguard—how when this was the case one of the jocks never missed the opportunity to shove him into the lockers with enough force for him to fall to the floor. About how no one even batted and eyes when it happened. They just walked by, their heads down, pretending that they didn't see anything.

Blaine's expressions turned from sympathy to anger to disgust, but he didn't interrupt. He let Kurt talk and vent, hanging onto every word Kurt had to say. After Kurt was finished he stayed silent, looking at his coffee, his expression looking forlorn. Kurt looked at his hands, wondering if he had said too much; if maybe Blaine didn't want to hear about all of that. He looked back up, however, when Blaine started talking.

"I'm sorry," he was saying, his voice soft. He was still looking down but Kurt could tell that his attention was solely on him. "I'm sorry that you have to go through that. I know... I know how hard it is and how…. exhausting and frustrating it is." Blaine looked up, something dark in his eyes. "I'm sorry that no one is willing to do anything and I'm sorry that there's no one there that's helping you."

"You help me," Kurt replied quickly, before he could stop himself. He felt the heat rise in his face as Blaine smiled back gently at him.

"I'm glad."

They sat there, gazing at each other for a long moment. The opening of the door and the cold air that was carried past them, making them both shiver.

"It's uh…." Blaine laughed, glancing up at the clock above the counter. "It's getting late. Your parents are probably expecting you to be home soon."

Kurt turned at saw that it was almost 10:30. He told his dad he would be home by now.

'_Crap.'_

"Uh, yeah," Kurt said, facing Blaine again. "I was actually supposed to be home already."

"Oh." Blaine grimaced, something akin to guilt shading his features. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you into trouble."

Kurt laughed, pulling out his phone. "I'll just call my dad. But I probably should be going." After saying it, Kurt suddenly realized that leaving was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He wanted to stay in this coffee shop and talk to Blaine as long as they could, with a never-ending supply of caffeine to keep their conversation flowing easily. But he knew he couldn't. Reluctantly, he dialed his dad's number.

Blaine nodded, sipping at his coffee as Kurt talked, telling the man on the other line he ran into someone and lost track of time and he was on his way right now. After Kurt hung up, Blaine smiled at him. "So, I know that you just spent forty-five minutes talking to me and I'm probably overstepping my time-quota with you for the day…. But would you mind if I walked back with you to your car?"

Kurt felt a grin spread involuntarily across his face. "No, no. That'd…. that'd be great, actually."

Blaine's smile grew. "Great."

They finished their drinks quickly, tossing them into the trash as they walked out the door into the cold. Kurt stopped just outside, reaching into his pockets to retrieve his keys. Ever since he could remember, his dad had told him to always hold his keys between his knuckles, just in case. It had now become a habit to slip his keys into his hand whenever he stepped outside.

He looked over at Blaine when the other laughed a little nervously and followed his gaze upward. They both looked down at each other at the same time and the colour rose in both of their faces.

Blaine cleared his throat. "Um…." He looked away, a blush across the back of his neck.

Kurt let out a nervous chuckle as well, his own blush more evident on his cheeks. "Yeah."

After an awkward moment under the white-berried plant, they shuffled out onto the snow-covered sidewalk. Silence hung over them, both of their faces still heated. It wasn't until they were walking back down the street where Blaine caught Kurt that the silence was broken.

"I'm glad that I ran into you tonight," Blaine said gently, keeping his eyes set in front of him. "I was feeling kinda down earlier, but then I saw you and my night got better."

Kurt glanced over at him, feeling something almost foreign fill his chest. "Me too, actually." Blaine looked over at him, confusion in his eyes. "I mean, I was feeling down too. Around the holidays I usually feel a little…. Bitter I guess. But I'm glad that we got to talk. It made me feel better."

Blaine nodded and they continued on until they reached the parking lot and stopped at Kurt's car. Kurt unlocked the door but paused before opening it, turning back to Blaine. "I wasn't lying when I said that you help me," he said, keeping his eyes locked on Blaine's. "Thank you for listening to me when I need someone to talk to, and thank you for never judging me. It really…. That really means a lot to me. So, thank you, again."

Blaine's smile could have melted all of the snow around them with how warm it was. "Well, I'm glad to help anytime you want me to. Please don't hesitate to call me or text me, even if it's not about thick-headed chauvinists."

Kurt laughed, which Blaine returned, both of them feeling that Kurt couldn't put off leaving any longer. They smiled at each other and Kurt opened his car door. He was about to slip inside when he felt a hand grip his wrist, just like earlier. Only this time, he knew the touch belonged to Blaine and he welcomed it.

"Kurt," Blaine breathed and the other boy turned to face him again. "There's…. Um, when we were leaving the coffee shop and we were…. Y'know, under the mistletoe…." Blaine paused and they both blushed again at the not long ago memory. Taking a step forward, close to Kurt, Blaine slipped his hand to Kurt's waist.

Kurt's breath hitched and his eyes widened. His heartbeat thundered in his chest as Blaine leaned closer.

"Tell me to stop," Blaine whispered, locking eyes with Kurt. He hovered there, giving Kurt the chance to pull away, to tell him no.

But, god, Kurt didn't want to. "No," he breathed, his own breath mingling with Blaine's.

A smile twitched across Blaine's mouth and he leaned forward gently, taking Kurt's lips in his own. Kurt felt himself sigh into the kiss and relax into the touch of Blaine's hand at his waist. Blaine's other hand came up to grip the side of Kurt's neck tenderly as their mouths moved together.

Kurt's head spun with too many emotions, too many thoughts all at once. Was he doing it right? Was he any good at it? Did Blaine think he was good at it? His mind quieted completely when Blaine pulled him closer, running his thumb under Kurt's jaw. A small sound escaped Kurt's mouth but he couldn't get himself to care at the moment because Blaine was kissing him and it felt so right.

All too soon Blaine pulled away, but only slightly, keeping his hands where they were. Kurt opened his eyes, not remembering ever closing them. Both of them were breathing a little heavy, their steamed breath mingling between them. Their gazes locked for a moment before they both smiled. Blaine was the first one to break the silence.

"You should…." He cleared his throat a little. "You should probably get going. If you're going to be home on time."

Kurt nodded, knowing he should, but not able to move away from Blaine's grip on his neck and hip. "Yeah, probably."

Blaine finally let go of Kurt, sliding his hands into his pockets, but the smile on his face remained. "I'll, um, I'll see you later, then?"

"Yeah," Kurt laughed out, sliding into the driver's seat, still able to feel Blaine's lips on his. "I'll see you later." As he reached for the handle to close the door Blaine called him again.

"Kurt."

Glancing up at the other boy Kurt saw the intensity in Blaine's eyes that he saw earlier and shivered again. "Yeah?" he said a little breathlessly.

Blaine smiled tenderly at him. "Merry Christmas."

Kurt smiled back. "Merry Christmas, Blaine."

Kurt started the engine and put the car in gear, pulling out of the small parking lot. He saw Blaine in his rear view mirror, watching his car as he drove down the street until he turned the corner.

'_Okay,'_ Kurt thought to himself. _'Maybe Christmas isn't so horrible after all.'_


End file.
